Apple's cash; new 10.5.3 seed; 3G iPhone photos; Boston store size

Apple's cash reserve is rapidly approaching that of Microsoft's. Meanwhile, Apple has seeded yet another build of its impending Mac OS X 10.5.3 update; some fresh photos of a purported 3G iPhone have appeared on an overseas discussion forum; and Apple's latest flagship retail store to open in Boston may be the company's largest yet.

Apple's cash may soon rival Microsoft

While Microsoft has long held the title as the technology firm squatting the largest mound of cash, Apple may soon give the Redmond, Wash.-based software giant a run for its money, literally.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer's Todd Bishop points out that Microsoft has reduced its cash balance from more than $64 billion less than four years ago to $26.3 billion this year through large stock buybacks, dividends and acquisitions.

Meanwhile, Apple over the same period has seen its spare coin surge from $5.5 billion to $19.5 billion as a result of its industry-leading growth in the personal computer market and its dominance in the digital media player sector.

"Keeping too much cash on the balance sheet can raise eyebrows among investors, who often want companies to reinvest the cash in the business or to return the money to shareholders through dividends or stock buybacks," Bishop noted. "Investors are now watching Apple's growing cash balance in much the same way they did Microsoft's a few years ago."

Cisco still sits between Microsoft and Apple with $22.7 billion in cash. Google is a somewhat distant fourth with $12.1 billion.

Mac OS X 10.5.3 build 9D27 Seed Note

Continuing to plug away at the next maintenance and security update to its Leopard operating system, Apple on Monday is reported to have seeded Mac OS X 10.5.3 build 9D27 to its vast developer community.

According to people familiar with the distribution, the build was accompanied by documentation listing no know issues with the software update and asking that developers continue to focus their evaluation efforts on a previously stated list of 12 core system components.

As was the case with recent builds, build 9D27 saw the addition of nearly a dozen fresh code corrections, bringing the total number of bug fixes baked into the impending Mac OS X 10.5.3 Update to nearly 215.

More photos purported to be that of Apple's upcoming 3G iPhone have surfaced on the Chinese-language discussion forums of WeiPhone.com. The images depict an iPhone clad in a white plastic shell with added sensors and modified microphone and speaker grills, matching a recent description of the next-generation device recently posted over at iLongue.

Although the images are almost certainly inauthentic mockups or third-party casings, they're being republished for the sake of discussion.

Apple's Boston flagship to be largest yet?

Finally, Gizmodo is reporting that Apple's soon-to-open flagship on Boylston Street in Boston may emerge as the company's largest yet by square footage.

"According to a store employee, it's a good thing Boylston Street is so big: Apple estimates 1,500-2000 customers/hour will visit — more than 10 times the 160/hour that the average store gets," the gadget site reported. "It's something else inferiority-complex ravaged Bostonians can hold over New York."

Apple's cash outpaces their reinvestment spending, and they have bought a lot of things, but maybe they've been a lot more sensible in how much they pay for what they buy than what is typical for a tech company. Generally, it looks like they've been doing a lot better in actually doing decent planning and follow-through in using what they buy.

Maybe because if they're real, that makes it one ugly phone. It looks like a big, white Chicklet. Yuck!

That's hardly an argument though. I remember similar complaints about the "fat" nano. The same thing happened when we saw the preview pictures of the new desktop keyboard. Someone even went so far as to say that one was an "obvious" photoshop, although I think said person didn't even critically examine the picture for evidence of that.

That's hardly an argument though. I remember similar complaints about the "fat" nano. The same thing happened when we saw the preview pictures of the new desktop keyboard. Someone even went so far as to say that one was an "obvious" photoshop, although I think said person didn't even critically examine the picture for evidence of that.

And it also became my favorite keyboard of all time despite the crazy looking spyshots.

Maybe because if they're real, that makes it one ugly phone. It looks like a big, white Chicklet. Yuck!

I dunno, looks kinda groovy to me.

The most interesting thing about the pictures is that everything about that white material, ... from the thickness, to the large holes drilled through it, to the metal rim around the camera, ... just shouts out "ceramic," and that would be a very interesting development indeed.

Agreed! God forbid Apple come out with a white iPhone! Yuck! Black, maybe, but I love the aluminum and glass look! I thought Apple was heading that way (alum & glass) for all its product lines??!!!

They are, but it behooves Apple to use a radio transparent material on the back, which aluminium isn't. The radio doesn't have a bad range, but it could be a lot better.

That mockup matches the iLounge descrition of the new design to a tee, but they aren't real. A couple things that stand out are the On/Off Button is recessed and the image of the front shows a clear plastic cover is over the ear speaker.

The most interesting thing about the pictures is that everything about that white material, ... from the thickness, to the large holes drilled through it, to the metal rim around the camera, ... just shouts out "ceramic," and that would be a very interesting development indeed.

I see ceramic too mainly for the superior scratch proofing and RF penetration though it should be relatively inexpensive, easy to colour and maintain a green image for the company.

My only concerns are will it be brittle or will it be too thick? It certainly doesn't look too thick from the photos. I suppose ceramics can be hardened with additives.

The "obvious" signs that this is a fake could easily be the result that it's an incomplete shell, prototype, trashed production model or any number of things. Of course every rumoured photo is dismissed as being ugly, Apple would never do that, ad nausium. ...Until it's actually released of course.

Edit: Did the original thread even state it's plastic? It might not be.

If you look, it doesn't appear to be any internals in the pictures of this supposed new iPhone. No power switch, no lens for the camera, no audio jack in the port or anything in the sim card port. The only thing I can see is a little metal in the dock connector, but that could just be shielding. My guess would be that this is only a case, so there is no telling if this is real or not.

I must admit, a ceramic phone, as long is it isn't brittle, would be pretty sweet!

Is 10.5.2 really that bad? I mean, there are a couple annoying bugs, but 10.5.3 isn't a must for me, just a nice plus. On the other hand, I'm waiting for second gen iPhone so I can finally buy one.

Every time I open an Excel file and it opens in a very small window, I risk locking up my whole machine just trying to zoom it ... and this has been the case since I bought the machine, over a month ago. I'm amazed Apple has left us all with this for so long - 10.5.3 tomorrow, please!

Not to mention every time I put the machine to sleep I risk it not going to sleep properly and/or not waking up properly, and even if it does, I won't be able to reconnect to SMB shares. But this is all well known. I've been looking forward to 10.5.3 more than to any other point point update I've used - from 10.1.2.

I also wouldn't mind an iPhone ... or just some indication that it might make it here officially at some point, because I'm holding out until then.